Tuning In: Jim Nantz says Tom Brady belongs with NFL's elite

Jim Nantz, who will call the action for CBS when the Ravens visit the Patriots in the AFC Championship at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, thinks you could easily make that case.

“If he's not the greatest quarterback of all time,” Nantz told the T&G in a conference call Tuesday, “I'd have a hard time finding me one who was greater. I think there are a lot of guys who are on an equal plane, but I think Brady's numbers alone, wins alone, the most important category of all, he certainly presents a strong argument.”

Nantz was on hand last Sunday when Brady won his 17th postseason game to break Joe Montana's NFL record. Brady will play in his seventh AFC Championship in his 13th NFL season, and if he hadn't suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2008 opener, he may have reached another AFC title game. A victory Sunday would vault Brady to his sixth Super Bowl, with a chance to win the Big Game for the fourth time.

Most important for CBS, Brady has made the Patriots a lasting national television draw. Sunday will be the 62nd Patriots game that Nantz and Simms will work together since they became the No. 1 NFL broadcast team for CBS in 2004.

“It's always,” Nantz said, “in any sport difficult to compare players from different eras and generations. All I can tell you is before our very eyes, this guy is shattering so many of the records. One year he steps up and throws for 50 touchdowns, sets the mark. His touchdown-to-interception ratio is so ridiculously great we're almost numb to it.

“He puts up a season like this year where they set the NFL record for most first downs in a season, total offense, highest-scoring team in the league by over 100 points, best third-down team. Would they be that without Brady? I'm not trying to take anything away from (backup) Ryan Mallett. You could insert any other quarterback. Would they still be putting together those kinds of jaw-dropping numbers? I doubt it.”

CBS analyst Phil Simms ranked Brady among the top three of all time along with Montana and Peyton Manning, but wouldn't say if he thought Brady was the best.

“You're asking the wrong guy,” Simms said. “I don't know if I'll ever say that this guy is the greatest quarterback of all time with anybody.”

Simms thinks comparing pitching stars in baseball is easy; all you have to do is look at the won-lost records.

“It's harder in football because there are so many more elements to it,” Simms said. “You can be a great player, but if you have a bad coach, you're not going to be a great player then.”

Of course, that's not a problem for Brady. Not with Bill Belichick as his coach.

Simms believes Brady's greatness extends beyond sheer numbers.

“What we undersell with Tom Brady,” Simms said, “is his determination, his leadership. That word leadership is thrown out there way too easy, but he does set a tone for the team. He drives, he holds people accountable.”

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco has led the Ravens to a second consecutive AFC Championship against the Pats, but he still hasn't won over his critics.

“For some reason,” Simms said, “he can't be accepted. Maybe he needs to take a class on how to interview better and come off and be charismatic. So people will say he has the 'it' factor. If they lose, he will take, if not all, most of the blame for the Baltimore Ravens.”

Nantz and Simms find Belichick to be informative, personable and a good storyteller when they meet with him on the Friday morning before they work a Pats game.

“If people ever saw,” Nantz said, “a snapshot of what Bill Belichick was like in those meetings versus what you see on the sidelines, you would never think it was the same guy.”

During the Pats' regular-season finale against Miami, CBS showed a 1979 Worcester Academy team football photo that included current Dolphins coach Joe Philbin and Dolphins defensive coordinator Mike Sherman. Unfortunately, Nantz mispronounced Worcester as “Wooster.”

“Doggone it,” Nantz said when informed of his mispronunciation. “I used to drive from my Connecticut home through there all the time. I stopped and I had a little place I used to eat at all the time. I'm surprised I mangled it so much.”

Of course, Nantz wasn't the first to mispronounce Worcester, and he won't be the last. It was still great exposure for Worcester Academy.

Contact Bill Doyle at wdoyle@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillDoyle15.